Safari Notes

Usain Bolt's feat at the Beijing Olympics, will awe and be talked about - for years and maybe - for generations to come. He has taken the sporting world by storm: "I blew my mind," he said, "and I blew the world's mind." His own blown mind should cause no worries -- it will be put back together with another night of prodigious sleep and perhaps some more Chicken McNuggets, his prerace meal of choice this week. But the world's mind may take some time to recover. Track and field, the Olympic Games and the sporting world at large witnessed something Wednesday that cannot quickly be processed, for it involved the utter rewriting of the laws of human athletic possibility. On a hot, steamy night that would have felt familiar in Kingston or the sugar cane fields of his native Trelawny, Bolt obliterated another world record, torching a world class field in the 200-meter dash in a time of 19.30 seconds, .02 of a second better than American Michael Johnson's ...

Africa has lost one of its few leaders who had integrity, was incorruptible and who greatly cared for democracy and about his people. By his character and through his deeds, Levy Mwanawasa was a shining light in Africa; very few African leaders won and commanded respect as Mwanawasa did. In the few years he has served as Zambia's president, Mr. Mwanawasa showed a new kind of leadership in Africa; a kind of leadership that would be worth emulating by leaders in other parts of Africa. Rest in peace Man!

Its people: hard working, resourceful and many are well educated. With proper, encouraging conditions in the country, Ugandans can do much more. Its land: abundant and very fertile in most parts; but very little of which is productively utilized at the moment. Ugandan land, if well and extensively cultivated, can feed many more millions and in many more countries than it does now. Its waters: Uganda is a land of fresh water - streams, rivers and lakes. And has lots of rain. Few countries have as much fresh water per person as Uganda has. Years ago, Uganda’s lakes, rivers and streams were clean and pristine; now – many are littered with plastic bags and bottles. But, still - of water - Uganda has some of the most fresh and plenty of it. Its livestock: Ugandan cattle and poultry are some of the best one can find. Its wildlife: with a variety of birds and other animals; and green plains and rolling green valleys, many covered with jungles - Uganda is pure magic. And now Uganda has Oil , ...

The Gaza Strip is a narrow piece of land along the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt. Just 40km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, it is home to more than 1.4m Palestinians. The shape of the territory was defined by the Armistice Line following the creation of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent war between the Israeli and Arab armies. More from the BBC More on Gaza: Free Gaza , Gaza.net , Raising Yousuf , Looklex , BBC , New York Times , Al Jazeera , The Independent , Telegraph , Wikipedia

We know of snakes and fish being poisonous, but a poisonous bird? That is what the brightly colored pitohui is; it is a native of New Guinea. At least three of the bird's species have poison in their skin and feathers, which is used only as mechanism against predators such as snakes and hawks or even humans. The poison has served the bird well: humans, even the natives in New Guinea, very rare would think of eating it. More on the Pitohui: BBC , NPR , Species Wikimedia , Wikipedia , uga.edu , The New York Times , Bird Forum , interaktv , Menankatuck , Suite 101.com , itg.be , National Geographic , WWF , Scholar

Writing about Kibera yesterday, got me into thinking and remembering the very disturbing and heart wrenching plight of the people of Bangladesh - highlighted in last weekend's CNN's 'World's Untold Stories' . A video of the same, from TheRealNews : As Channel 4 last reported: How does a country's population survive climate change as their homes, land and roads all disappear under water ? Will Bangladesh disappear under water? Will they have to adapt, as many have done now, to live with water all around them? Only time will tell. In the mean time, millions of impoverished Bangladeshis will have to live in even more misery and hardships.

He is the fastest man on Earth and is nicknamed "The Lightning Bolt." He is Usain Bolt and has taken not only the athletics world by storm, but - the whole world. The old and the young, newsmen and laymen are all in awe of the super, amazing Jamaican. He is so fast, that many, including his competitors believe that he is using some form of drugs or is super-normal. Today, 'usain bolt' is one of the most searched terms on Google, Yahoo and all other international search engines. More on Bolt: TIME , IAAF , ABC.net , Sports Illustrated , Times On Line , Trackfield.about , Wikipedia , The Washington Post , YouTube , News

Early this year, during the aftermath of the general elections - Kenya witnessed the worse violence since independence from Britain , in its urban streets and rural areas. No where else was that violence and carnage as horrifying as in Nairobi; in Kibera slum, in particular. It's in Kibera, a slum of almost a million people, where neighbors and friends brutally turned against each other: looting, killing and raping; even old women and small children - boys and girls - were raped. That brutality and savagery had very little to do with the elections or tribalism; it had much to do with the economy . Years of economic deprivation and marginalization, had been grooming the seething hatred and anger in the people of Kibera; especially in the youths. Any one living in such deplorable, inhuman conditions as those in Kibera, would surely be angry and hate; angry at and hateful of those and any thing perceived as being, or seems associated, with the cause of the very difficult conditions i...

In the most unlikely of places on Earth, is one of the greatest natural wonders: Lake Baikal . Immense. Breathtaking. Fed by hundreds of rivers and steams. It holds an estimated, incredible 20% of the world's fresh water; and harbors more endemic species of plants and animals than any other lake in the world. The lake itself, the wildlife and vegetation - has from time, immemorial filled explorers and tourists with awe and wonder. More on Lake Baikal: UNESCO , Facts , ILEC , UNEP-WCMC , Baikal, Way To Russia , Geographia , Magic Baikal , Royal Society , Books Image: Greenpeace

A few moths ago, President Yoweri Museveni and the Ugandan government were in favor of giving away a part of the Mabira forest for the cultivation of sugar cane. Now, surprisingly and fortunately, Mr. Museveni has rejected plans to reduce Mount Elgon's forest cover and cede some 7,500 hectares for human settlement. The President noted that he must be convinced that reducing forest cover will not affect the ecological system of the country . Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano, is the lowest of East Africa's four major volcanoes. Its surface area is one of largest of any extinct volcano in the world, indicating that it was once much taller than its current height, perhaps even taller than Kilimanjaro. A massive 40-square-kilometer caldera supports a large Afro-alpine moorland, with some unique endemic plants and more giant senecios (also called groundsels) than are found anywhere else in East Africa. On the Kenyan side, there are salt caves that are frequented by elephants and ot...

With 53 countries and with a population now approaching a billion people, Africa's attendance at Beijing isn't as strong as it should be; it's very weak and very poorly represented. Only a few medals will be taken back from the Olympics to Africa. Collectively, Africa's showing at all international sporting events have always been very poor. Ravaged by poverty, diseases and conflicts - Africans have not been given the right environment and opportunities to show their real capabilities and potential, at such sporting events. Poor governance and corrupt sports' officials, only make matters worse. Many excellent African athletes and sportsmen, simply defect or flee to foreign countries which offer them better prospects and pay; in fact, many times during such international sporting events - is when many African sportsmen choose to defect. For some, like Lopepe Lopez Lomong , they come to succeed only by sheer luck and coincidence. It's not due to lack of finance a...

The Wildlife Conservation Society, announced on Tuesday that they have discovered 125,000 of the reclusive, and shy Western lowland gorillas living deep in the jungles of the Republic of Congo. The newly discovered gorilla population, now doubles the number of the gorillas previously estimated. This is great news for Africa and all those who care for and love our Planet. All gorillas, like many primates, are on the endangered list . The lowland gorillas are found in tropical forests and swamps in Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon . Their numbers have been drastically reduced in the last few years, mainly due to their being hunted for meat. In some parts of Africa, gorilla meat is more expensive than any other meat. We celebrate this new discovery. At the same time, if the newly found gorillas have to survive and thrive - they need to be better protected. And those who eat gorilla meat, should be...

Our closest relatives, Primates, are so endangered that they could soon disappear forever. That's the shocking report just released . Mankind’s closest relatives – the world’s monkeys, apes and other primates – are disappearing from the face of the Earth, with some being literally eaten to extinction. The first comprehensive review in five years of the world’s 634 kinds of primates found that almost 50 percent are in danger of going extinct, according to the criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Issued at the 22nd International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, the report by the world’s foremost primate authorities presented a chilling indictment on the state of primates everywhere. In Asia, more than 70 percent of primates are classified on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered – meaning they could disappear forever in the near future. Habitat destruction, through the burning and clearing of tropical forests, whi...

Uganda hasn't had as much and as an extensive oil exploration history as Kenya and Tanzania. But it has been the luckiest: it has struck oil and is expected to start producing about 10,000 barrels of high-quality crude oil a day, next year; which would reportedly reach 350,000 barrels a day, in five years. Below photo near Lake Albert, an oil rig can be seen in the distance . For Uganda, a country that has slowly been emerging from instability and civil conflict, the discovery of oil is a big blessing and should help in transforming the country and propelling its economy. The Ugandan government already is planning for a refinery and pipelines. It's also planning for further oil exploration around and on Lake Albert and in the North, close to Sudan. The discovery of oil - by propelling its economy, could be an enormous blessing for Uganda's people and help very much in lifting Uganda out of decay and poverty; and assist in healing the many wounds that Ugandans have. That i...